Venice Louisiana Fishing Report

Pics from last week...

February 21, 2015 report.

The big “BULL” Redfish cooperated with us last week in a big way. I took Jim, Eddie, and Mark from East Tennessee out fishing for three days last week. We caught 25 to 35 big Redfish each day with two largest at 30 lbs. and the smallest at 14 lbs. Most of our Redfish were between 19lbs. to 26lbs. The fishing up where they live has been crummy this Winter, so they wanted action and they got it. We tried for some smaller Reds and struck out on them, but we kept some fish under 20lbs. each day for them to take home for the grill. They ended up having a good bit of fish to take home. We released a bunch of fish during that three days (about 90). I had not been out on the water for several weeks prior to last week, so I am glad the weather was fairly good and I remembered how to fish artificial lures. These guys are coming back in June.

The Mississippi River stage in New Orleans is at 3.2 feet today, and it is supposed to drop to 2.5 feet five days from now, but with all the rain to the North of us I think that it will change and start rising some. No big deal, because Spring is around the corner and the Mississippi is going to rise like it does every year. We are along for the ride, and we just need to look at what mother nature gives us on a daily basis and do our best to find fish that are biting.

We still have some openings for March and April if anyone wants to come down and go after these fish with us. Just give us a call. Stay warm and dry.

January 22 , 2015 Report.

I did not fish for the last week, but I have been getting some fishing progress reports from a couple of my guide friends that have been out fishing the last couple of days. They have had some good days later this last week with catches of forty to fifty Redfish. These are all the big Redfish from fifteen to thirty pounds with a few around nine pounds that they put in the box. Yesterday, they went out (two boats) and had seven Redfish between the two boats. The conditions were really good yesterday as far as the seas. Apparently, the fish did not like the conditions yesterday. Sometimes, the fish are there, but they don’t bite. I don’t like those slow days, but it happens.

Since I was not fishing, I took the wife out to the movie house and saw “American Sniper”. This was a really good movie. It seemed like a very realistic movie based on a true story. It is directed by Clint Eastwood, and I am a big fan of his. The main reason I think it is a realistic story is that our U.S. troops are vulnerable in combat. Their duty is not a walk in the park. Our troops are tough and well trained, but their combat experience is not like some video game where one trooper goes in and kills 200 bad guys without a scratch. Our military troops have to work really hard with no guarantees of survival against enemies that are determined to kill them. I think too many Americans think our military can go anywhere and just kick any ones ass without any consequences. This ain’t so. Unfortunately, the bad guys train for battle and are disciplined to carry out evil deeds. Just like those nuts in France that shot up those newspaper people. I think we Americans have an advantage over the Europeans as far as this type of terrorist threat, because we have a right to own weapons. Most U.S. states allow us to carry weapons. We have a chance to defend ourselves when we are out and about. We can’t stop every threat from happening, but when it does, if we are alert and ready, the board meeting at the newspaper office will have some weapons handy under that sports coat. Maybe even a shotgun behind the file cabinets. At least over here, the average Joe can be an equalizer if the bad guys corner us. In Europe, only the government and the bad guys are armed. Here, we have the third type of armed people: your average law abiding citizen. Of course, some states won’t let you be ready, like up in the Northeast. Or, these states make it so difficult to own a weapon that it’s unrealistic to try to own one. Pennsylvania, and Maine are on board with the constitution, but the rest of the Northeast doesn’t like people to be able to defend themselves. The law can only respond to what’s already happened.

I bought the movie “The Hurt Locker”. This is a great movie as well. It has the last Jason Bourne guy in it, I forgot his name. It seemed realistic as well for the same reasons. I recommend both shows to see. My favorite part of both movies is seeing the bad guys go down ….

Time to go back to fishing….

January 14, 2015. Report.

It is January, which is typically the slowest month of the year for me as far as fishing charters, but we have been out a few days locating the big Redfish. In January the cold fronts bring strong winds which make fishing more difficult, but not impossible. With the strong winds, the water levels drop, so you have to make sure you have enough water where you stop the boat or you may get stuck in the mud. When the North wind stops blowing the South wind brings warm moist air that brings fog, which makes navigating difficult. At the end of the day, mother nature can make fishing more difficult than we want any day of the year, so we may as well go fishing and have a plan”A” along with a plan “B”. More days than not we find solid numbers of fish during the winter months.

Currently, the Mississippi River stage in New Orleans is around 7ft. and is expected to be around this stage for the next week. The water temperature in the river is in the mid forties, with the outer bays surrounding the river in the lower fifties. These outer bays is where the Redfish will be holding due to saltier warmer water. This is where we will be fishing until early Summer, when the Mississippi River typically falls again (no guarantees on that. It falls when it wants to).

So, if you like to fish and you want to go out and give some fishing a try, now is a good time to give me a call and set some dates up. Particularly if you are snowed in somewhere in the Northern U.S. now is a good time to come down and get away from ice fishing. It’s all good. I will keep you all up to date on my fishing trips…

January 02, 2015. Report.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I have some good news from down here in the Venice, Louisiana area: The Redfish are still here in 2015. It seems as if they are hitting the same lures we were using in 2014. J We don’t have to make any major changes in our strategy for finding the fish. We look at the weather and figure out where we definitely don’t want to go based on the seas, and go where we can fish without the boat bouncing around really hard. We get to the area and start fishing and looking for any sign of the fish. If we don’t have any luck with the fish, then we go to plan “B” and hope the fish are there. I always like it better when plan “A” works.

January can be a difficult month to fish because of the heavy winds that come with the cold fronts. When things settle down we have to be concerned about the fog. Thick fog on the Mississippi River. The fishing can be terrific during this time, so I make myself available to stand up to the challenge of winter fishing.

The Mississippi River stage in New Orleans is currently at 3.7 ft. and in five days it’s supposed to at 4.6 ft. So the river is rising, and I don’t care. The Reds don’t leave and go to Alabama because the river gets high. They are here, swimming around. Some days they bite great and some days they don’t and some time during the day they might bite better than other times.

Anyway, went out today in heavy fog with some Colorado guys and did good on the “BULL” REDS, and earlier in the week with a family from Ohio who had a ball. It’s the time of year when business slows some and I will enjoy some time off, but after a few days I am ready to get back out on the water even if the weather looks tough. I look forward to the new year. I hope we all have a great year.

Give me a call to book your next trip. Now is the time: more choice of dates to accommodate you!

A few more pics of my last trips.

December 24, 2014 Report.

The big Redfish bite this December has been outstanding down the Mississippi River around the end of the passes South of Venice. October and November were good, but the fish really turned on this December. I never know when to tell people to come fishing here when they ask: “When is the best month to come fishing?”, because the fish are always here and we fish every month of the year. We can have a great day on any given day. We can also have not such a great day on any day. Fortunately, we don’t have too many terrible days. Anyway, this December has been great. There has been so many 18 to 30 lb. Redfish holding in certain areas that one fish will take the soft plastic under a cork, then another fish will hit the cork under the water, and they fight over it. The “BULL” Redfish end up tearing up your tackle they are so thick. They destroy all your tackle, or break your cork in half. Its best to have a couple of rods rigged with just a lead head and plastic when the fish get thick so there is only one target for them to hit. The first fish there gets the bait, and the other fish can follow the hooked fish to the boat, but not tear up everything. We have been boating between forty to fifty fish a day. One of our boats boated sixty- four. All of the Redfish have been big. That does not count all the misses and busted up tackle ones. Mucho action. This can happen in any month. I keep telling people that December is an under rated month. January and February can be great as well, but they are the toughest months due to the cold fronts and fog, but the fish are here. The fish don’t leave.

It is Christmas time, so I have to go, but I have more to tell. I will report back in a couple of days. Merry Christmas!

December 10 , 2014 report.

The big “BULL” Redfish are still hitting good down here in the Venice, Louisiana area. We have had folks fishing with us the last couple of weeks from Tennessee, South Carolina, Florida, Louisiana and North Carolina. They all came down for the big Reds. We have been concentrating our fishing down at the passes off the Mississippi River. The beaches and bays near the mouths of the passes have been holding the 20 plus pound Redfish. They roam around, so they are not sitting in the same spots, but if you work an area over for a while you eventually find them. It is always better when you find them early rather than later. We are constantly changing locations based on the wind and seas. If you can’t fish an area due to the seas, then you don’t go back there no matter how well you did there yesterday, because you are wasting your time. Most of our fish have been caught with soft plastics under a cork.

The Mississippi River stage in New Orleans is at 3.6 feet today, and is supposed to be at 4.0 feet in five days, so it is rising. The river should continue to rise after this week, so anyone wanting Speckled Trout will have a hard time. We never have been spoiled this year with a low river. It fluctuated so much this year, so we had to work to find slot Reds and Trout. It really did not bother us with the big Redfish fishing.

It seems everyone has enjoyed the fishing and the Fish On Lodge. Leila has been cooking up some good meals and keeping the place clean and comfortable. It has been like having family over all year. About half of everyone that has been over has been here before, so there has been a lot to talk about. We have had a few tough days fishing this year, but most of the time we have found some good action on the big Redfish, especially when you fish multiple days and make a vacation out of it. All good here. We will touch base soon.

My calendar for 2015 is pretty much wide open as of now. So, now is the time to book your next trip as you will be able to get the dates you want. it is never too early to book a fishing trip in Venice Louisiana!

November 25, 2014 report.

The “BULL” Redfish fishing has been good the last couple of weeks when we could get to them. The strong cold fronts we have been getting have brought heavy winds and they limit where we can fish, so on the windy days we have targeted the slot Redfish in the passes. The Mississippi River stage in New Orleans is around four feet, and the river water is a clearer brown color, not the clear green color we are used to this time of year. The Speckled Trout have moved in the River in some areas, particularly down river from Venice. Some friends of mine have been catching them on live shrimp. Usually, by now, we would be catching the trout on soft plastics in the river, but I have not talked to anyone who has done well on them using artificial baits. The big Redfish like the lures though. They will eat them up. The weather does not have to be great to catch the big Reds, but it helps when the wind stays below 20mph. I work hard, but I can’t work miracles.

My clients over the last couple of weeks have been from Texas, Alabama, and South Carolina, and they have fished three or four days with us. They said they had fun and enjoyed staying with us at the lodge. We ate good and had a good time. We have a few days off for Thanksgiving and then get back on the water hunting down the fish, especially the big Redfish. It’s a hunt everyday.